Barack Obama wins North Carolina by a whopping 14 point margin 56-42!  Sen. Clinton wins Indiana by a slight margin of 51-49.  Sen. Clinton said in the days leading up to the North Carolina that the state would be a game changer.  Apparently North Carolinians made the decision that they would not be gamed.  Both states experienced record turnout during this primary.  Over 1.5 million voters turned out in North Carolina.  Over 1 million voted in Indiana.  Obama shifts to general election mode and most say that the elected delegate is over.  Most say that Obama is now the nominee.  Obama improved his numbers with women in both states.  Clinton has had arguably the best four weeks of her campaign with allies such as the press, republicans, and John McCain.  Obama on the other hand has had the worst four weeks of his campaign and the Clinton campaign was unable to capitalize on it.  For the past two months Obama was hit from all sides; the media, all the Clintons, the republican party, John McCain, Rush Limbaugh, etc.,  and Sen. Obama weathered the storm beautifully.  The idea that this freshman Senator from Illinois will be the nominee for the President of the United States is an absolutely extraordinary accomplishment of Obama, his campaign, and the American people.  Anyone who says that he cannot beat Sen. McCain in the general election are simply blowing smoke.  Obama has shown numerous times what he is made of and now it’s time for the superdelegates to put us all out of our misery and call this thing.  Clinton’s numbers with core democratic groups such as African-Americans are becoming more and more dismal.  While Obama’s numbers with women and low income white voters have steadily improved.  Clinton won a mere 6% of the African-American vote in North Carolina and only 8% in Indiana.  These numbers are down from Ohio and Pennsylvania which were 13% and 10% respectively.  Obama increased his popular vote number by 240,000 votes.  This is more than Clinton the 200,000 votes than Clinton won Pennsylvania by.  The question now is when will Clinton bow out gracefully?  Does not make sense for Clinton to continue this race if there is not a realistic chance of her winning in the popular vote or in elected delegates?  Not really.  There is no rational reason to continue.  Superdelegates now do not have a reason to hold back and drag this race out until June.  Clinton has lost her last chance to pull an upset and it is time to unify behind the nominee.  UPDATE:  Tim Russert proclaims Obama the nominee and Clinton cancelled all morning interviews and campaign appearances for today.  It looks like this is finally coming to its conclusion folks.